Big Bad is a big town baddie and has appeared in Chasing Balloons, Brum and the Pantomime Cow, Brum and the Snow Thieves and Brum and the Splash and Grab. He is played by Paul Filipiak.
Big Bad first appeared in Chasing Balloons when he steals the balloons from the seller while she is distracted by Granny Slippers. He steals them presumably for his own greedy wants to sell them for money. He tries to shake Brum several times by getting a taxi but the balloons won't fit and by hiding in a phone booth and behind a van. Eventually he stuffs up and falls into a construction pit and emerges covered in mud and muck and watches helplessly as Brum takes the balloons away.
Two weeks later he appears with a partner in crime in Brum and the Pantomime Cow and steals the buskers money. They try to loose Brum in the theatre and dress as a cow but Brum chases them on stage and their disguise falls apart. Brum grabs the money back as the performers go after them. However Big Bad gets away off-screen.
In Brum and the Snow Thieves he appears with a girlfriend planning to rob the Ski Resort of their money. He ducts under the counter and drags his girlfriend under too. At the last moment they snatch the money and stuff it into her bag and run away pushing past people and keep running until Big Bad pushes some skies onto Brum retraining him briefly. Both keep running until she sees some manikins with ski jackets on them. Both agree and get into disguise but Brum sniffs them out when Big Bad sneezes. They run out onto the snow and go up the slope clumsily, knocking down a snowman in the process and reach the top thinking they have won. But Brum catches them and they steal a pair of skies each and go down but due to their inexperience at skiing they crash and Brum buries them under snow forcing them to give up the money. The guests at the resort throw snowballs at them as punishment.
Big Bad later reappears in Brum and the Splash and Grab holding hands with a new girlfriend who is pretty and athletic. They see the big town silver swimming trophy and the medals and both agree to steal it as it's worth thousands of millions. They try to get it off the guards but they pushed around in the crowd and left behind. Big Bad's new girlfriend gets hit in the head and dazzled. Frustrated Big Bad rudely drags her into the building. The duo approach the cup behind the cheering squads and blend into the crowd by cheering until they see a lifeguard appear from the change rooms dressed in swimming overalls. The two run to the change rooms and ditch their clothes together and emerge pretending to be swimmers. Big Bad gets the medals while his girlfriend gets the trophy holding it as if she were holding her own child and they start making their way to the change rooms. Brum sees them and cuts them off. The girlfriend hesitates not comfortable making a getaway in a swimming jacket but Big Bad grabs her. Quick witted she grabs a floaty and he does to. They jump into the pool and swim away. They push past the Mayoress and run to the big town lake as Brum and the two swimming coaches run after them. They steal a speedboat but Brum latches onto the water skies tied on and goes after the naughty pair. The girlfriend sees first and holds onto him as she barks orders at him on how to drive the boat to get rid of Brum. Eventually Brum gets on land and a tug of war battle ensues with Big Bad's girlfriend urging the boat and Big Bad on but Brum pulls on the bat hard causing Big Bad to fall back and release the accelerator and they end up on the bank of the Lake. The girlfriend looks up and sees Brum, the swimming coaches and the Policewoman looking at them. Big Bad promptly surrenders and tells his surly girlfriend to give back the cup and medals despite her death stare. She then gets on her knees and hands back the loot with Big Bad feigning friendliness while beckoning Brum to come over. As his now ex-girlfriend holds out the trophy and the medals while giving Brum and the police a look of disgust, he adopts a solemn expression while holding onto his girlfriend's jacket and then pats her on the bum. Off-screen both are arrested and are taken to the Big Town Prison.
Criminal Record/Charges[]
Big Bad has stolen a bunch of balloons to sell himself, 2 lots of money and the Big Town Silver Swimming Trophy medals from the Swimming Gala. For disguise, he's stolen a cow costume, ski clothing including a helmet, jacket, pants, gloves, a pair of skis, and swimming overalls including a life-jacket, swimming cap, goggles, and swimming shorts. To get away from Brum he's also stolen a speedboat.
Charges
At least 17 Counts of Theft with 2 for stealing money, 7 counts for the disguises including the Cow disguise, the pants, jacket and helmet for the Ski Dome and the shorts, 1 count for stealing a pair of Skis, life-jacket and swimming cap for the Swimming Gala, 5 counts for stealing items of high value including the balloons, Big Town Silver Swimming Trophy and the 3 medals, and 1 count for stealing a vehicle (Speedboat).
2 Counts of Trespassing (one is for a construction site and another is for the stage of the theatre.)
2 Counts of Vandalism by knocking down a vase on the stage and when he knocked down the Skis onto Brum.
1 Count of disrupting an event (The Big Town Swimming Gala.)
1 Count of Physical Assault in the Ski Dome.
1 Count of Reckless Driving in the Speedboat.
1 Count of Driving Unlicensed.
1 Count of vehicle theft.
Due to his constant offending and ruthlessness in what he does to get the items he wants, Sentence = 10 years non-parole.
Personality[]
Big Bad in comparison to the Big Town's other crooks is rather calm in his demeanour and conduct. Whereas other baddies get flummoxed or scared when Brum confronts them, he keeps himself even and responds to the situation relatively calmly. This was showcased by him not panicking in Chasing Balloons when Brum cut him off head on. He was even able to stay on top of himself when Brum was water skiing after him even though his girlfriend was constantly badgering him. However, he was still grating under the pressure as shown by his annoyed facial expressions. However, his tactical mind doesn't necessarily know how to respond when cornered in all situations despite his somewhat cool exterior. This was shown in Brum and the Splash and Grab when he and his 2nd girlfriend were cornered by Brum and the crowd on two fronts. He only snatched a floaty from a child when his girlfriend grabbed one. His cool temper is also shown by his surrendering to the police when he got pulled onto the lake ramp. Whereas other crooks look scared when arrested, he meagrely nodded in understanding before beckoning to his girlfriend to hand back the loot. When she stared back at him in anger and disgust he sharply looked at her so that she would relent and not increase the amount of trouble they were in. This shows that he is assertive and is something of a realist. This also shows how he will be in prison. Whereas baddies like The Shadow and Pickpocket Polly were visibly bothered about going to prison, Big Bad remained calm with an even expression which means that he isn't bothered about prison time. Despite this is somewhat inconsiderate as shown by him barging past Mrs. Posh and several other shoppers when he stole the intakes from the Ski Dome. He is also something of a macho man as he always grabs hold of his partners and pulls them around. Despite these yucky qualities, he doesn't revel in his criminality like his 2nd girlfriend as shown when they thought they'd lost Brum on the speedboat. While he appeared somewhat chilled about the whole affair, his 2nd girlfriend was revelling in their apparent victory. However, he does have a feral side as shown by his facial expressions when he looked at how Brum was water skiing after him and when he turned around to pilot the boat. He is also something of womanizer as he has two female partners in crime and wears a bright Hawaiian shirt when with them. This is also implied by how he broke up with the first one before Brum and the Splash and Grab. Despite being a muscular thief he is also somewhat cowardly as he hesitated to get close to Brum to hand the money he stole from the Ski Lodge and when he is caught by the police he has his blond girlfriend hand back the trophy instead. He is also shameless as he made a getaway in swimming overalls.
Tactics and abilities[]
Big Bad's tactics are varied as he uses several methods to steal things and to evade Brum. Like most baddies Big Bad prefers to grab his loot when everyone else is distracted, such as when he stole the balloons as he snuck past the seller and Granny Slippers to steal them. He's used this tactic in all 4 of his attempted thefts. Even if this can't be accomplished he'll attempt to conceal his theft. He used this tactic when stealing the busker's money as he is a tall muscular man he stood in front of his accomplice while the latter grabbed the cash. He's also proven to be an opportunist as seen in Brum and The Snow Thieves, as he waited for the amount of money to increase as people paid their fee before grabbing the money. In addition to this he also favors disguising himself and his accomplices to blend in. Big Bad's most noted example of this is when he tried to steal the Big Town Silver Swimming Trophy and medals as he dressed in swimming overalls to sneak past the spectators and when he got the trophy he ditched his own clothes just to get away. Big Bad used this tactic 3 times out of his 4 attempted thefts, though Brum saw them. Big Bad also likes to keep his partners in crime close especially with his 2nd girlfriend as he's always holding her hand or has his arm around her waist and even grabs her by the jacket to quickly change direction or to prevent her from being snatched or trapped by Brum. After he gets his hands on the loot to escape being caught by Brum Big Bad like all baddies will try and outrun Brum but despite being athletic he can't outpace Brum for long so he attempts to hide. A noted example of this was when he and his accomplice tried hiding among the costumes behind the stage in the Big Town Studio. He even tries to hide in plan sight as he pretended to be a mannequin dressed in skiing gear. However if he can't hide he'll attempt to find something like a vehicle that's faster than Brum such as when he tried to catch a taxi to get away from Brum when he stole the balloons. This failed because he couldn't fit them in and forcing them in would pop them rendering them worthless. Big Bad also stole a speedboat to get away from Brum as Brum can't drive on water which shows how cunning he is. Despite his clever tricks Brum always outwits him which leads to his arrest by the Policewoman when Brum pulls him up on the shore of the Big Town Lake.
Trivia[]
- Despite featuring in 4 episodes and appearing over the course of 2 seasons he is not named by Brum unlike The Shadow and Pickpocket Polly who have only appeared in 2 episodes each.
- Big Bad's final defeat is symbolic on 3 levels. Firstly, the fact that he gets arrested wearing red swimming overalls shows how he's finally been caught red-handed by the police. Secondly, it foreshadows the red/orange overalls that await him in prison. Thirdly him getting arrested whilst wearing red swimming overalls symbolises why he never appears again. Red is a colour that denotes a higher risk inmate or criminal which is no surprise given his imposing physique and his criminal experience. This means that he is being held securely in prison because of the magnitude of his crimes.
- Despite making several appearances he does not appear again after being arrested in Brum and the Splash and Grab unlike other baddies in the show like The Rascally Big Town Robber, Bubble and Squeak, Nick and Rob and The Shadow. One explanation is that he was also imprisoned on the charges of endangering life for pulling Brum all over the lake and attempted murder for trying to yank Brum into the lake during the tug-of-war. This makes him being caught dressed in red more ironic.
- Big Bad's girlfriend in Brum and the Snow Thieves later appeared in Brum and the Shop Window Dummy looking dirty and dishevelled implying that he broke up with her in favour of the girlfriend in the Splash and Grab.
- He has had a total of 3 partners in crime, more than any other baddie on the show.
Gallery[]
